Sunday, September 27, 2009

LEADERSHIP is a word that refers to the function of influencing other people to cooperate in pursuing and achieving clear collective goals. This involves two simultaneous directions of movement-- the forward movement from present reality to the desired reality, and the inward movement of consolidation or “solidification” of all participants into a greater degree of cohesion, teamwork and harmony. This presupposes clarity of goals.

Absent this, the leadership function has to start with encouraging and efficient facilitation of the consensus-building process applied to having collective clarity on the main concerns being addressed, on the general direction of the forward movement, and the specific plans that would include sub-plans and assigned specific roles.

Leadership covers Proposing and Facilitating

In this situation, the leadership function covers the presentation of well-thought-out points of attention and carefully-crafted proposals, or the act of encouraging and efficient facilitation of collective wisdom aforming, or both. Of course, the roles are discussed after the goals. Teams come after the clear syntheses of individual dreams. And finally they assign or self-assign roles to play in the implementation,

Leadership also applies to the person or group of persons actually performing such overall function. Leaderships come in two kinds— one is official leadership composed of persons elected or appointed on the basis of expectations that they would effectively perform the function; the other is natural leadership composed of persons actually performing such invaluable function in any group pursuing its common interests.

When democratic governance is undertaken by the people through elected or selected representatives in various posts of responsibility, the people have to be conscious of goals, roles, plans, obstacles and the overcoming of obstacles. We have to be conscious of our collective dreams.

Otherwise, we mix up applicants for the task of legislation with applicants for execution of laws, we mix up functions of executive functionaries who are supposed to lead in hearing and solving community problems and legislative functionaries who are supposed to consult with us to better represent our voice in making necessary laws. That is, we would only be conscious of the functionaries’ funds for generosity to their personal and narrow interests, and the elected and selected officials would just satisfy the thirst for dole-outs and they can effectively abandon their assigned roles and even make dirty money on the side.

Who have actually become the natural leaders? The civil society leaders and organizations have had to shoulder the official leaders’ functions while all the tax money paid by the people go to the latter’s pockets and bank accounts, whether as salaries or allowances or stolen money.Meanwhile the people have come to accept as natural that we cannot realistically expect even just the basics of governance from the persons we elected or selected on the basis of generosity for giving dole-outs and job recommendations.

So, many of us have also abandoned the very basic human faculty of even just dreaming for better conditions for ourselves. We have somehow relegated dreaming only to our darkest sleeping hours. The deepest effect of disempowerment is when people no longer dare to dream and be inspired to turn the dreams to realities, and are instead preoccupied with weeping out a flood of tears to wallow in, licking of wounds and gnashing of teeth, and enjoying only the pettiest consuelo de bobo of escalator rides in cooled superstores in our country where there is virtually no production, only stores!

Restore Faith in Consequential Dreaming!

Would-be leaders of our country, in various scopes of constituency, are therefore challenged to lead in restoring our people’s faith in dreaming, in earnest and consequential dreaming. They are seriously challenged now by our heroic history to Dare Declare Your Own Doable Dreams and your Realistic Plans to Set them on the Clear Track to Fulfillment! And be earnest in making sure the people will not be frustrated and betrayed still another time by our official leaders presenting “pipe dreams,” empty promises, and later on blaming the world and even God, but never themselves and their lack of earnest effort, for have all the bitter failure their presented dreams and plans would expectedly result in.

The 18-year -old Kamalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of History launched during the 2nd Annual Pistahang Kamalaysayan a project dubbed as “Talastasan sa mga Pangarap at Balak” (Discourse on Determined Dreams Declarations to be Doable in a Dozen Years) and is now issuing this challenge to all candidates for public office in the 2010 elections. And we are actively seeking partner organizations, like futuristic groups, youth networks, schools and political organizations, in undertaking this project. In a few days, we will upload a website (http:/doable-dreams.8m.net) dedicated to this project.

We dare to challenge the candidates: Do not even file your candidacies for municipal leadership posts, let alone for national positions, if you cannot even prove that you know clearly what you would do for the fulfillment of your constituents’ dreams! Do not wait to “cross the bridge when you come to it” upon electoral victory before thinking of what you intend to do for the people’s future. Dare declare your own dream and prepare to prove that it is realistic – foresee obstacles and propose realistic ways to overcome them, ways that would not have to depend on monetary resources from external sources but on the sheer will power of the teeming hundreds of millions of Filipinos whom your leadership capability can draw in support because your dreams shall have come from them, in the first place. Will precedes the wallet!

On this matter, the late lamented Professor Nito Doria of the University of Sto. Tomas Social Research Center (UST-SRC), left us with this legacy of wisdom:

“If progress is to be shared and enjoyed by all, then it must be the achievement of all, the result of concerted effort of a responsible citizenry to make progress a way of life for the nation; not the result of some singular heroic effort of some excep­tional individual who does not exist except in myth.

“A responsible citizenry, however, is just a con­cert of responsible individual citizens libe­rated, in­formed and empowered, and made res­ponsible for their own welfare, It must ne­cessarily be in that se­quence of development, for one cannot expect to make a responsible citizen out of one who remains un-liberated, un-informed and un-empowered.

“A strategy for national progress must be an exhilarating liberating factor in the nation’s life, one that will free the Filipinos from the disquiet and listlessness generated by failed models of dogmata that have shackled their mind for centuries and in­evitably made them dependent on and beholden to the patronage of oppressive power.“Such a strategy can be no less than a new conceptual scheme, no less than what Thomas Kuhn in a landmark dissertation, The Structure of Scien­tific Revolutions, refers to as a ‘para­digm shift.’ ”

Our sister-organization, Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms, has uploaded in its “on-line library” at http://lambat-liwanag.8m.net articles promoting 15 paradigm shifts for as many concerns about human and social development. Together, Prof. Doria’s sharp discussion and Lambat-Liwanag’s empowering paradigm shifts provide possible references for anyone writing out his or her desirable and achievable dream for his or her own constituents’ march to real progress and prosperity.

Challenge: Forward to a Really-Better Future!

We challenge the candidates to declare personal commitments to personally-decided dreams and plans because the political parties in our country have remained like identical personality-centered and resources-centered social clubs, much like identical fraternities except that frat members exhibit more loyalty when they go into rumbles. Party platforms are thus merely ornaments in the highly-personalized politics of this period. Kamalaysayan lauds all who undertake efforts to pursue reforms-oriented change politics and wish them well. They are heroes and heroines and they can all mold themselves into a united force that revives by deed our heroic bayanihan tradition.

We also challenge the real statesmen and stateswomen of this nation, whether incumbent, running for election or reelection, or keeping away from electoral politics, to present declarations of their own doable dreams in order to influence the candidates and the electorate and raise the standards of what we ought to be expecting from those who seek our vote. We have sought sample declarations of dreams from the youth and we are going to upload two pieces from students, and challenge the candidates who are supposed to be more mature to address the concerns of all these very young Filipinos and Filipinas, to present superior declarations. We will also upload a poem asking Filipinos to stop weeping and start dreaming and marching for a better life for us all (see earlier post on this blogsite).

All the viewers of our dedicated website shall be the judge, and part of their judgment will be visible in the pages of this website. The invisible part will remain in their minds or be discussed among their own loosely-linked circles of discourse.

Our sense of history organization has decided to launch and facilitate this discourse project because more than reading, memorizing, and writing about past Philippine History, we want to contribute to the directions being taken and the shape of our society to be enjoyed at least a little bit more proudly by our children and our children’s children.

prof. ding reyes of subic, zambaleslead founder and national spokespersonKamalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of HistoryMakati City, September 28, 2009

Saturday, September 26, 2009

I came from Zambales yesterday, Sept. 26, and one of my plans was to visit some two dozen Davao farmers where they are camped somewhere in Manila. The rains and the flooding delayed me from reaching my "other home" in Makati where i was to leave my things before the visit. I later learned that the farmers' tent was ruined by the heavy rains. Why are they here, why have they decided to come to Manila and camp away from their families?

The Davao farmers are here to press officialdom to finally grant them relief from poison rain.

The rains I had to brave yesterday came from God and it was water. But the poison rain being endured by Davao farmers contasins toxic pesticides, and a Health Department study has shown that traces of the pesticides have already found their way into the farmers’ bloodstream, causing ailments among the farmers and their children. It has also killed their crops and farm animals.

Aerial spraying being done on the banana plantations in Davao City have ruined lives in the downwind communities. City hall passed an ordinance banning the practice, as LGUs in other areas have done with no negative effects on the banana growing industry in their respective areas, but the powerful banana growers and exporters dared to fight City Hall and lost in the regional trial court. But they found allies in the Court of Appeals. Right after receiving their appeal, the CA issued an injunction against the city's ban on aerial spraying, which immediately resumed. The farmers and their supporters filed a case which now pends in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the DoH secretary has still desisted from issuing an order to stop the aerial spraying, after his own personnel had come out with their official report. And the office of the DENR secretary recently claimed to have issued an order to the department’s regional offices to stop aerial spraying in their areas, but the claim was later proved to be just a press release (“jok lang daw”? not funny!).

The lameduck President has not been allowed by the extremely powerful association of banana planters and exporters to get her government’s act together, so she and her underlings all continue to dilly-dally on this issue.

As the issue remained unresolved and the victimized communities, many of us have remained completely ignorant about it. For those of us who still don’t understand this issue, I embed hereunder an excerpt of a privilege speech delivered as early as one year ago by our people’s own representative in the House of Representatives, Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel:

I HAVE MET FARMERS AND PEASANTS, and I have been with their families and communities, and they would be keen to share that the fruits of their labor, the blessings from their lands, bear stories of the dignity of their work. The bananas from Davao sing their stories, too, but they tell stories of human sufferings, of corporate abuse, of emotional pains. They are delicious and plush, but they are made so at the expense of our poor countrymen's health, the destruction of the environment, particularly the air that farmers and farming communities in Davao breathe.

The problem is the unabated spraying of deadly pesticides by banana plantations in Davao City.

These plantations, which are owned by big domestic and multinational corporations, make use of aircrafts in their method of spraying. Through this method, the pesticide drift, reaching as far as three kilometers and making nearby residents, plantation workers and the environment the unwitting recipients of deadly chemicals meant to kill the pests that attack bananas.

They are not bananas but they get sprayed with toxic pesticides. They are not pests, but they are slowly being killed by pesticides. So they waged an initiative to ban aerial spraying of pesticides in Davao City. They have a compelling case for their clamor, Ginoong Speaker, and we should pay heed: pesticides are designed to kill. We usually mistake pesticides as chemicals only limited to kill insects but in fact, pesticides can kill a wide range of living things, including humans.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are at least 3 million pesticide poisoning cases annually worldwide or six (6) persons poisoned every minute. These often occur due to accidental exposure through spillage and insufficient protective clothing while working. The effects of acute poisoning (immediate effects) depend on the toxicity and quantity of pesticides absorbed. These effects are wide ranging from numbness, dizziness, tremors, nausea, blurred vision to difficulty breathing. Death happens in the most severe cases.

Our farmworkers and communities living in and around plantations are subject to chronic or long-term exposure. In the short-term, impaired memory and concentration, confusion, severe depressions, nausea, and speech difficulties have all been reported. Other effects (of chronic exposure to pesticides) may only appear later in life, or even in the next generation. Learning difficulties, behavioural and reproductive effects such as accelerated puberty, infertility, and increased susceptilibility to cancer have been observed in children of parents exposed to pesticides. Numerous types of cancer including liver, skin, prostate and leukaemia have also been associated with pesticide exposure. One study of banana plantation workers in Mindanao found high levels of a fungicide by-product (ETU) correlated with incidence of thyroid gland disorders.

Here in the Philippines, over 30 chemical pesticides that have already been banned in Europe and the United States are still being used by banana plantations. Aerial spraying in particular, or the use of an airplane or helicopter in spraying pesticides, is a serious threat, thus the practice is prohibited in many countries. The spray can drift up to one hundred kilometres, exposing people to pesticides even when they live far from fields and crops that are being sprayed. Yet in many cities and provinces in Mindanao, aerial spraying is a routine practice that has been going on for decades exposing helpless communities to toxic spray with very little intervention from regulatory agencies.

There are alternatives to pesticides that are healthy for humans, the environment and the economy. We know that there are a good number of banana plantations also in the province of Davao that are thriving even without having to resort to aerial spraying of pesticides. Some are even growing them organically. In Cotabato, banana growers continue to exist and do good business despite their laws banning aerial spraying. In Bukidnon where there has been a ban in aerials spraying since 2001, alternatives such as boom, manual and sprinkler spray have reduced the exposure risk to surrounding communities, without affecting productivity. Reduction of pesticide inputs actually leads to an increase in profits.

Another successful alternative to pesticide use is organic farming or zero-use of pesticides. Using various forms of natural pest management, a farming cooperative in Mindanao exports organic bananas to Japan, earning premium price from the increasingly health-conscious Japanese market. The point is that there is definitely a better way of doing agriculture that is not only good for our farmers' pockets, but also results in safer food, healthier bodies and a more nurtured environment.

It is true that aerial spraying, compared with the conventional ground-based methods, is more cost-efficient and profitable. But there are limits that must be recognized by banana plantations that continue to rely on aerial spraying. The pursuit of profit is not without limits. I may be free to spray on my perfume onto myself, but I cannot force my perfume unto my colleagues by forcibly spraying the same on them. I may also flex my tired arms and legs for hours of sessions, but I cannot extend them to the inconvenience and harm of my colleagues – my right has to have a boundary.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL has returned to the tables of discourse recently after Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III announced his bid for the Pressidency. Aquino’s detractors wanted to ruin his image of being the candidate of the widest popular support base by bringing in an issue designed to throw a wedge between his Catholic supporters and the Catholic Church hierarchy, and even revived an outright lie: that the RH Bill is seeking to legalize abortion. I don’t remember seeing among the 10 commandments an item equating contraception to abortion, but I remember very clearly that the Eighth Commandment prohibits lying.

Earlier, Rep, Risa Hontiveros, my candidate for a Senate seat in the May 2010 elections, took pains to explain why nothing in the RH Bill legalizes abotion which is murder.

In an interview with the staff of the Manila Bulletin, specifically of its students-oriented section, Rep. Hontiveros said:

“This bill is not about abortion but about RH, information, products and services whether natural or modern, it is a matter of intellectual honesty.

“There’s a provision there that says 'nothing in this Act amends the Revised Penal Code (RPC) under which abortion is a crime and punishable.' Ganon ka-categorical. Under RPC, abortion is a crime and there are penalties and sanctions. And those will be untouched by our bill when it becomes a law.”

She says more to put the issue in a broaded context. And for her other statements, hereunder is the pertinent excerpt from that inerview

Rep. Risa: Ay ang sarap nun! I am Catholic by the way. And I want an RH law and I think government should spend for family planning. I think this is a political issue and the party should include RH in their platform.Yung isang maganda pang side benefit pag naging batas na itong RH bill, is I think we will contribute to breaking the myth of the Catholic vote. Kasi di ba turo ng obispo natin that free will is a grace from God. One of the aims of the Catholic education is the formation of conscience. So pagkatapos nila i-form yung conscience natin bakit ayaw nilang gamiting natin ng malaya?Ultimately it is a secular issue, it’s a matter of public policy, it should be for all Filipinos. Not just Catholics. People of whatever faith or people of no faith. If they say they’re agnostic or atheistic, the law should serve them. Hindi dapat magdikta ang simbahan o estado.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

pity not the poet,who is happy enoughjust loving the moon, whom he knows well that he can't reach,even if only with his versespity, instead, the wolf, whoin baying at that moon,does so very quietly, out of real fear that his howlsjust might disturb her.Pity the moon, too,never knowing how intenselyshe is being loved by so many from afar.Blame ye only the yawning chasmbetween their worlds.(9-23-09)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

SENSE OF HISTORY makes us remember “historical details”; more importantly, it highlights the underlying storyline of a developing essence.

. Take this date September 21. For Filipinos, this is a date to remember Martial Law and the details of its declaration and the sufferings we endured on our civil liberties (and human dignity) because of it. Other nations and peoples have had their equivalents of it. Many details have varied from country to country but they were under­pinned by the same essence. This same date is the International Day of Peace. To inaugurate the day, the “Peace Bell” is rung at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The bell is casr from coins donated by children from all continents, as a reminder of the human cost of war.

Peace and military dominance should therefore be together as twin themes, the two sides of a coin, whenever the sense of history in the Philippines commemorates September 21. These themes should always be taken together profoundly as the inseparable concerns of War and Peace, not merely the concern for the victims of the logic of war and its “milder” versions like martial law declarations, but more in the context of our inevitable evolution from pre-human consciousness to full human consciousness, as “the universe is unfolding as it should.”

Along this evolutionary path, the incessant preparations for war and the actual occurrence of it are conclusive proof that we are still in the pre-human stage where the peace we are still working for is just still a series of tension-filled ceasefires, where the logic of force prevails over the force of logic, and where antagon­ism is presumed until unity is proven. This context thrives in the control by groups of people over stockpiles of weapons that are used or threatened to be used to eliminate other groups of people and their respective civili­zations from the face of the earth. Threaten to end the life of fellow humans, display your capability to do it, and you get to control their lives effectively. Such is the human evolutionary significance of professional soldiery, dehumanizing the people at the barrel end of the rifles and cannons into maleable slaves and veritable domestic animals, while also dehumanizing the people holding the guns as mere efficient gun-holders and trigger-pullers, no more than “intelligent” robotic parts of the killing machines, as much threatened by its bullets as the intended victims if they as much as start heeding their own consciences and using their own minds. About the only glam­or or “dignity” accord­ed this profession is spun by the magic of Hollywood and the people’s tendency to admire their slave masters and their own torturers. This Stockholm Syndrome works well while, in the long periods of preparation for war, including civil war waged by governments on its own citizenries, tyranny merely dangles the Damocles’ Sword to effectively intimidate people while it is not yet necessarily to eliminate them.

Recalling Martial Law in the Philippines would bring in the name Ferdinand E. Marcos, but such detail is trivial; social realities and levels of consciousness in the world and in the country are more to blame for Proclamation 1081. These same realities and levels have persisted and can very well bring forth many repeats, and if we are not alert to the essence of things, we will fail to prevent it or, worse, even applaud and salute it. Therefore, recalling only the heroics of individuals in the 14-year dramatic struggle to topple that particular dictatorship without seeing the essence and without being being consistent to that essence is to say to one another, we have not learned the lessons, we are ready to repeat the course!

The only real and lasting peace is one which we can describe as synergy of all for the good of all; where the force of logic prevails over the logic of force; where we discern and intuit, as operational reality and overall context, the ONENESS OF ALL. Only a Filipino nation who has fully developed or fully revived a culture actually living in the teamwork and harmony of bayanihan, that banishes separativeness and exploitation, can be a nation at peace with itself and with the world.

May such peace prevail on our planet the soonest, starting with each heart.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

In the first place, we have to broaden our concept of museums and libraries, expanding from the common notions that we have had. These pertain to large collections of artifacts and books that the community members would not care to visit more than once in their lifetimes. Why the lack of interest? Because the community members usually have to travel far from their village residences to visit the museums and libraries in large buildings in the capital cities. And even when they go and get to cross the intimidating portals, they can hardly find anything in there that relates to their own lives.

How about having community museums and libraries with reading materials that refer to the lives of the very people of these same communities -- the large clans, the large groupings of economic sectors like the farmers, the fisherfolks, the business people, the professionals and government functionaries. We plan to set up a network of such local institutions, each to be called "Bahay-Liwanag."

Leaders and members of youth organizations can be trained to conduct all the necessary interviews with the people, especially the elderly who remember well enough the life patterns of social and economic interactions, of cultural routines of a typical year in the life of the village,, etc., etc. And the best among the youthful functionaries can also be trained on how best to exercise prudent editorial judgment so as to make each item or set of items contribute to unifying the community members on the basis of a shared view of their own history, a shared view of their collective journey as a community of people and not just a cluster of buildings and houses.

A very helpful factor for success in this endeavor is the computer technology, which includes the internet. Add to this the welcoming and inclusionary culture of Wikkipedia, which encourages viewers to post their own comments or their own articles to complete the picture on many subjects, a participatory culure that can be adopted by the With the community library’s set of competent editors standing as moderators, the community itself would in fact be conducting a continuing forum on their living history and on the available options for their current decision-making and direction-setting on how best to pursue their collective stakeholdership in their collective future. This library can also publish single-sheet hard-copy alerts on new contents and new acquisitions.

The current type of museums with artifacts displayed far from touching hands of the viewers can be helped much by the digital video-making technology so the artifacts can be viewed really close-up without ever endangering them to destruction by prying hands, and the background sound can include clear explanations about each artifact’s details, history, and continuing significance.

Enabling Technology: Computers and the Internet

The entire collection of the 'Bahay-Liwanag' can be uploaded onto its own website that can be accessible to all community members – those who are still living there and those who have gone to work and now live in other areas of the country and even overseas. Those who have left the area can still be intimately linked to local goings-on and could therefore be motivated to continue participating in local affairs and contributing to local progress.

And if a substantial number of barangays have this website facility as rooted well in their respective community museums and libraries, all these barangays can interact on-line and achieve a grander on-line bayanihan for shared learnings and mutual progress.And don’t count out the tourists and foreign scholars, or foreign markets for the communities’ local products, who can all access the websites from wherever they are in the world.And it can all be rooted in this 'Bahay-Liwanag.'

The barangay community derives its name from the ancient large boats our ancestors used to live in while journeying out at sea. And every current-day community is also traveling in at least two different simultaneous dimensions.One dimension is physical. The community’s children are continuously traveling out to other areas or other countries, and they could be served well by these community libraries so as not to be cut off completely from their home villages.

The entire barangay is also traveling along their respective paths of development which should never make them forget their collective history and their patrimony. The community library, with its own website, can serve well as a veritable lighthouse to continue guiding these travels. Non-resident community members can be asked to help generate resources for this project possibly through advertising placement solicitations.

Piloting for Launch: Initial Collection, Computerization of Data

For this project's soft-launch within the 16-day period of the 'Pistahang Kamalaysayan,' we are going to start data collection and computerization in at least three barangay communities, two within Metro Manila and one outside. The initial information would consist of summary descriptions of the current patterns of behavior of the community members relative to their cultural, natural and economic resources. Cultural here pertains mainly to common habits and factors for social cohesion, including the arts mainstreamed in community life.

To be added immediately are equivalent descriptions of these same aspects of life about 25 years ago. To these two sets of data will be added a comparison per aspect and an enumeration of factors behind the changes, for better or for worse.

Visualize it as a common reality among this country's barangays within the next half-decade. It can really be done, and done well, to achieve the Filipino people’s effective teamwork and elegant harmony in every local community, for the betterment of our lives! And it shall have all started in the initiating pilot barangays within the remaining two weeks of the ongoing 'Pistahang Kamalaysayan-2.'

Monday, September 14, 2009

I woke up this morning with a thought that had come from conversations in the previous days about passions of urgency and reminders of prudence. This came back to mind this mornning and slid quickly into a montage of two distinct metaphors…

The seed has been planted by history as a seed of hope.

Traditional nomination systems that precluded participation of the electorate have resulted in candidates that represented only the elite, as nominated only by members of "political parties" that are only friendship and pooled-resources clubs. Change has long become an imperative. The people have had to shift from being mere pollwatchers (in the broad sense) to being active participants in the entire process. We have been disempowered for so long.

The seed has now germinated across the archipelago.

Upon the sheer will power of the heroic initiators and initial facilitators, as aided by new information and communication technologies, the broadening of the nominations process has started to advance unmistakably. Momentum is building. There is cause for optimism.

The seed has now turned into a fine, handsome sapling which shall hopefully grow into a giant sturdy tree. I would say “certainly, it will,” if it keeps up the momentum.

It is apparently marching to destiny, much like that fine shepherd boy who was destined to be king.

But the sapling is not yet ready for the big killer storms that are coming so soon, it still lacks in sturdiness of trunk, and its roots still need to grow longer and deeper, broader, stronger.

The lad still had to grow into full manhood and had to start flexing his young muscles and allow them to grow. So, he had to have the prudence based on patience. And he was willing to work with the king first until he could grow strong enough to fight, defeat and replace him on the throne. He did not gamble. His earlier slingshot victory over the giant did not expand his head with the hubris of overconfidence and impatience.

He knew that time was on his side.

I was told that some leaders and participants in the PPs process are emphasizing the need to strenghten first at the roots. I think that is prudent. It needs to engage more vigorously in obviously more winnable contests that either have smaller constituencies or have more slots at stake. Successes are crucially important in the growth of the PP process. We did not go into all this effort just to prove for still another time that the elite politicians are manipulators of the public mind and of the public vote. That has long been, repeatedly, “Noted!” with no consequence.

The PP is a phenomenon that deviates from that pattern where the people’s candidates have to explain later on how come they lost. The people expect it all the time. What still needs to be proven is that the PP can win after choosing well its battles, and that later it can also win much bigger ones, all the way up to the big match producing only one winner for the topmost post. Later.

Passion for effecting basic changes in the elite-dominated grossly unfair electoral system is understandable and really laudable. But it has to be coupled with prudence. Otherwise, a daredevil David can turn into the late lamented Don Quixote buried six feet under the ground. ( No, worse, because windmills don’t crush defeated assaillants and the people’s level of confidence is immaterial in that world.)

Let’s plan for victory; choose well our battles and avoid making enemies premaruely or even unnecessarily. Take the long view, and work well every step of the way. The PP processes has started and is growing well. Let’s not nip it in the bud and hunt for who to blame. Nobody listens to losers. Not even the losers.

[Official Statement of SanibLakas Foundation in September 2001, in the form of ten quatrains, issued via the Internet a week after “9/11” to add our voice to the urgent clamor for peace.]JUST a handful of days after the bombings in New York and Washington DC in September 2001, this poetic quatrain made the rounds in the Internet and short-text messaging, very obviously alluding to the bombings especially of the twin buildings of the World Trade Center in New York. In the city of York there will be a great collapse Two twin brothers torn apart by chaos While the fortress falls, the great leader succumbs, Third big war begins as the city burns.

The quatrain was attributed to 16th century prophet Nos-tradamus, and it carried his unique prophetic style of poetry, implying that he did foresee these events and their tension-filled aftermath where war-hawks were openly crying for Muslim blood to “avenge” thousands who died in the attacks.

However, none of the Nos-tradamus scholars found it in the seer’s own body of work.In the Philippines, the Sanib-Lakas Foundation produced ten quatrains, which we released through the Internet and other channels under a symbolic collective by-line: “Nostraverus,” Our Truth.

Here are those quatrains with which we repeated our urgent call for World Peace half a decade later.

Mind of great populace creates swerves from dire prophecies.Hearts of Light refuse being tunneled by the powerful to the abyss.Human evolution now cries in louder chorus: ‘No more wars!’Even frenzy of hate shall by the Loving Light of Truth be tamed!

Not ever can any saber-rattling a resolute adversary intimidate.In fighting fire with hateful fire, messy strife surely will escalate.Allow ourselves to all take sides, and conflagration broadens.It’ll send all up in thickest smokes to blacken full the heavens.

Thousands lay dead and wounded, victims all, undoubtedly.Yet who would the biggest victims be, really, in this awful tragedy?Casualties lost bodies, but aren’t furious survivors losing their God?Million souls now pushed to hate, and—woe!—to thirst for blood.

In word and form have peace prayers and rituals widely varied.Still, all voices against war build synergies in intent and effect.Small circles for sharing and praying embolden even the timid.As their ripples grow out, more hearts start to ponder, to reflect.

God, please bless these people, so proud to be mighty and free!Heal their wounds and pains, lovingly dry their bitt’rest of tears.Cure them of hatred and confusion, and help them to deeply seeWhy anger of many ‘round the world for stripe’d flag is so fierce.

Denial of Truth is a terrible cancer to our emotions and spirit.We have the ‘response-ability’ to be vigilant, open and sobered.Hold our judgment, let discernment move and work ahead of it.Sift and seek the Truth in a patient way, with all well-considered.

Try, instead, to see which ways of ours we need now to amend.If we really heed to heal, a much better world would come to sight!

Crucial first step to take in fighting terrorists most treacherousIs for us to check and rid ourselves of tendencies within —Toward being arrogant, intolerant and, oh, so self-righteous.Then, and only then, shall we deserve this noble fight to win.

This may yet turn out to be a most complicated preparation,That fully shed the tails from our reptilian origins would be,For Humankind to march forward in collective evolution—From intolerance and bigotry, to pluralism and Harmony!

Carnage from iron birds and threats of global war most bloodyMight just cause the whole Humankind to bond upon each strand.We’ll finally be one global community, the great Human Family.Clearly see shall we that “we’re all Fingers of the Same Hand!”

-- ‘Nostraverus’(Our Truth)September 2001

The first quatrain came from a special Sanib-Sinag (Light-Sharing) session held by some SanibLakas Foundation leaders at Earthlite, C.O.D., Quezon City on Sept. 17, as a special session of Sanib-Tinig new-moon jamming, where the only song sung was All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance, interspersed with sharing of insights from each of the participants. The other quatrains were fashioned within the week of creation of the first quatrain, from later sharings through another “All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance” singing-and-sharing session, and through texted and e-mailed messages.

The following light-sharers are represented by their respective insights and feelings in all these ten quatrains: Ding Reyes, Joydee Robledo, Vivien Virata, Gerie Caniete, Ernie Gonzales, Henry Vasallo, Eve Magnata, Fr. Stephen Punnakal, Pio Isaga, and Ronel de la Cruz (singing-and-sharing sessions); Marie R. Marciano, Mila R. Garcia, Karen Virata, Mina M. Ramirez, Maraya Chebat, and Tony Villasor (texted messages); and Jimmi Reyes, Gus Maramara, Jim Paredes, and Jun Simbulan (e-mailed messages). Upon reading these quatrains for the first time, they recognized instantly which points of insight and discernment came from their own hearts and minds.

Each one appreciated how her/his own point related well with the others in the tapestry of the entire message for peace. They and all the others who spread these quatrains resonated with them and added to them, and instantly joined the collective voice of “Nostraverus” (Our Truth).

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

KAMALAYSAYAN Solidarity for Sense of History–Philippines, was organized late in 1991 as a campaign network to promote an inspiring and keen sense of history that dwells not on memorization of dates and names but on a profound understanding of the storyline of the collective novel-life of a community or a dynamic voluntary cluster of communies, like a nation is supposed to be.

For KAMALAYSAYAN,history is not limited to the PAST, rather it is the PATH from the past, through the present to the future. Our sense of history avoids being preoccupied with details of events that are not really significant to or reflective of the lives of the people and the lessons they have learned.

Our sense of history seeks to be useful in consensus-building and decision-making on socially-consequential issues.

We are concerned mainly with the storyline of the collective evolution of the people's lives in various facets. And we hold that senior citizens are the natural historians, and the youth are the main beneficiaries of history in many respects. Please open the link below to ‘join this cause’ http://apps.facebook.com/causes/351083?m=91e6b129

We will have many announcements to upload in the coming days with the upcoming 2nd Annual Pistahang Kamalaysayan (Sakay and Hernandez Day, September 13 – Balangiga Victory Day, September 28, 2009, inclusive). You may also join the kamalaysayan email group by sending a blank email letter to kamalaysayan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Fierce fears, woeful tears upon your plight,Depression, despair, in the long dark night,Banish them all, and forever send to flight:Shine upon them the Words of Light.

Seek for your Mind the Words’ loving might,If upon seeing them your feel instant delight,Their Spirit has always been glowing brightDeep in your Heart, these Words of Light.

Breathe on, then, in peace with nary a fright,As you focus on them your innermost sight!Conquer all your fears, set things a-right,Cherish and share all the Words of Light!ding reyesmakati cityAugust 9, 1999(first published in Ding Reyes Writes 30 WISHPERS and More, May 2007, see also http://bookmakers_phils.8m.net)

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Who is my type of politician? My type of politician is one who envisions the Philippines as a country where citizens have the power whether directly, through their organizations or their representatives who genuinely represent them, And one who asserts that when they don’t, they can be recalled and they’re not omnipotent. That they are not passing down their power like an ancestral domain to their children.My type of politician is one who would like to see Politics as a profession. And who views governance not out of the goodness of the hearts of politicians, but seen by everyone as their duty. That’s what politicians are paid for. It’s their job. It’s their contract with people. People should expect it from politicians not because these persons are magnanimous, but because the people put them there. It’s not a forever thing. Like in life.My type of politician is one who really wants an economy where people have a chance, waiting for a chance to work, good, decent work from which they can adequately provide for their respective families. So the people can feel their honor, so their dignity as humans would be fully recognized and respected. They are no mere recipients of charity. They are not just captive voters. They are human. My type of politician is one who dreams of a Philippines where we celebrate our history, we honor our ancestors, especially our heroes and heroines. One who values all the ordinary people and never forgets, who remembers those who went before us. A Philippines where our arts are preserved and enriched and lived, and so beautiful because they are. One who is saddened as we have been neglecting, even degrading it.

One who holds that we are a country like other countries, that we are not to be superior to other countries, but a country where if you choose to and if you put a reasonable amount of effort to it, you can be happy, in whatever way you can define, you can be happy. One who wants us to be a happy person that can be loved by other people, and can love those he or she wants to love, and that will make a difference. One who sees that we’ll be happy because of that.

My type of politician is one who firmly believes that even as our systems will never be perfect because we’re always a human enterprise, we can do a lot, lot more to create that kind of environment, that people don’t have to be miserable even if they work so damn hard. My type of politician is one who really wants us to have a chance to be happy and lead happy lives.

My type of politician is a statesman or “stateswoman” who describes her vision of a future Philippines in these terms. One that I can have firm reasons to publicly declare to people who value my judgments:I’ve known (her) for about two decades now. She is a combination of firmness and humility, compassion and rationality, openness and flexibility. Very sincerely human, very sincerely and "fiercely" patriotic and lover of the people's interests.

Well, the one I had publicly described thus is one and the same person, who had actually said everything i quoted indirectly but almost absolutely verbatim for the first six of the paragraphs above. Knowing well her actual character of honesty and integrity behind my descriptions, I am confident that she’ll continue using whatever opportunities that God and the people give her to turn her vision for our beloved Inang Bayan fully into a happy reality.

Her name is Ana Theresia Hontiveros, known more popularly as “Risa.” And I am glad that she is running for a seat in the Senate. Beginning the middle of next year may that body be blessed with her conspicuous presence.

I have therefore recently joined the Facebook ‘Cause’ “Rep. Risa Hontiveros, ang type kong pulitiko” And you, my friends who are reading this now, can join it by clicking at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/205122?m=3f1cca43 I hope you really would. I really have big reasons for trusting Risa and campaigning for her to win that Senate seat next year.

--ding reyes subic, zambales

september 6, 2009

Note: the first six paragraphs were almost lifted verbatim from Rep. Risa's responses in the interview conducted by Students and Campuses Bulletin, as published by Manila Bulletin last March 21.

Friday, September 4, 2009

THE GREATEST obstacle to anyone’s learning often lies in the inability or unwillingness to admit to self that one still doesn’t have full knowledge about something worth knowing well.

. This applies to the subject of synergism. The word synergism is no longer a “never-heard” word to many English-speaking and English-reading intellectuals. But having heard of this word or having used it once or twice in conversation is still very far off from having a working comprehension of the very potent principle this word refers to. Oftentimes this word is dismissed as hi-fallutin’ gobbledygook good only for purely academic discourse one doesn’t usually have the luxury of time to engage in.

. This is unfortunate because synergism refers to a very powerful tool that has always been available but has remained largely unused or, at best, underused in human endeavors. Many times, the very people most need­ing and most expected to work in close and strong teamwork don’t seem to get their act together for periods lasting months, or lasting even years. But just a whiff of fragrance of this principle can make us seek to see more of the beautiful wholeness and con­sistency of the principle where ev­ery small nuance is a very important, nay indispensable, particle of the entire synergy of nuances, which is the principle itself.

. People can relate to the principle of synergism any which way they want to, preferably in an act of choosing among a wide range of options that are known to them, with a wide range of degrees of intellectual comprehension and arti­culation.

. The range in the degrees of comprehension is so wide. So is the personally chosen approach in sharing it.

. At one end are persons who would not even have any use for the word synergism or for any word whatsoever, and yet real­ly live it in their lives that they become it, and people around them can clearly appreciate it with only the term itself missing from the picture. Many of these people are just smiling in silence, enjoying the universe “unfolding as it should.”Others choose to become part of that unfolding, in various ways, including wordless ways: live and be your message; unified consciousness of a critical mass (“square root of 1 percent”?) etc. etc.

. Some who are discerning midwife roles for them to play in the hastening of that unfolding, and are ever zealous but ever patient, because any pace of change they may be actively involved in might necessitate periods of time longer than one would tend to expect or wish for. In his Conversations With God trilogy, Neale Donald Walsch keeps close to the theme of doing everything we can in pursuit of a desire, as a “statement of who we are,” but without any emotional attachment to the result.

. At the other end are the people who choose to work in the arena of the academe and intellectualization and apply the stringent rigors to decisively convince the intel­lectual apologists of separative ego and human divisiveness that fragmentation and high walls do not define the essence of the human. The long-delayed writing of this book, is an attempt in the latter end. It originally came forth in the form of a paper for presentation at the Conference on Synergism in Total Human Development conducted by the mainly-Academe-based Lambat-Liwanag (a Filipino term for “network of light”) Network of Centers of ab­out a dozen school-based centers of research and advocacy for paradigms shifts toward human empowerment, real development and harmony.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

People who are, for any reason, not so excited about having Noynoy Aquino as the presidential bet only of the Liberal Party ought to be conscious that Aksyong Demokratriko, 3rd placer party in the 1998 presidential election with Raul Roco as its bet, has already adopted him.

Days after AD's move, Mar Roxas announced he was dropping out of the presidential race to give way to Aquino. Earlier, Ed Panlilio also announced the same but i don't know whether his political party was adopting Noynoy as their candidate to replace Panlilio. Meanwhile, as Noynoy agonizes in his decision-making, other groups can come forth and proclaim him as their own nominee to actively campaign for later. Even the Akbayan party-list, as an organization (not as a party relevant only to the party-list representation in the House of Representatives), can transfer its much earlier endorsement from Mar Roxas o Noynoy.

The more groups there would be doing this, the more Noynoy can deserve being in the race as People Power's own bet, and not only of Aksyong Demokratiko and LP. That is, if he finally decides to run.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Mar's act of giving way to Noynoy Aquino is realy honorable! and also a very prudent! Chino's son Eddie Roces started a drive for a million signatures. Then Gov. Among Panlilio, a participant in the People's Primaries, declared he would give way to Noynoy. Then some provinces started to "turn yellow" -- yellow ribbons, yellow pages, etc. etc. Aksyong Demokratiko party adopted him, the first political party to do so. Now, Mar gives way so LP could follow suit. Others will also follow suit.